Rethink our relation to nature

What the word “waste” conjures up in our collective mind is likely something like this image, an industrial sized landfill that’s ugly and smelly and something to run away from. Food is the single largest waste stream in municipal landfills, and food rotting accounts for up to 15% of greenhouse gas emissions (USDA, 2022). One third of food produced is never consumed, representing wasted energy and agricultural resources while exacerbating global food insecurity (Willett et al, 2019). How to tackle the environmental and social problems created by food waste and waste in general is a pressing issue for humanity and our future existence.

For my AFT project, I am interested in finding out if our ancestors and indigenous peoples faced similar challenges and what we can learn from their knowledge and experiences. I selected 3 case studies including ancient Aztecs of Mexico, contemporary Indigenous Peoples around the world, and the tribe-lead outreach and recycling infrastructure building in the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma, which may herald our future.

Prior to reviewing the case studies, I looked into the etymology of word “waste” in English and Chinese. The English word of “waste” possibly originated from old Nordic source, meaning leaves, twigs, rags. The Chinese word “garbage” was likely a recent addition to the language. Its conceptual cousins that existed in early Chinese oracle bone script (1000BC) depict “clean” (as bundled twigs) and “ruin” (as empty houses after war/fight) (Lin 2015). The absence of waste in preindustrial civilizations is consistent with the first case I looked at which is the Aztec empire of Mexico in the 1300.

The Aztecs were Native American nomads who migrated to central Mexico around 1300. Within 200 years, they built the largest city in the Americas, bigger than any European city at the time, with a population of over 200,000 (Medina, 2014). The Spanish settlers were impressed by the size, orderliness, and cleanliness of the city. The Aztecs developed a sustainable, efficient cultural system that made the best use of resources to survive and expand the empire. There was no record of garbage dumps. Most organic waste was recycled back to the system: food leftovers, agricultural residues, human excrements were used as fertilizers for crop growth on the floating arable islands called “chinampas” on shallow lake beds. Human urine was used as fixative in the dyeing of fabrics. Unused textiles were collected and burned to illuminate public spaces at night. The Aztec society had officials for maintaining cleanliness of public spaces as well as scavengers in charge of recovering recyclable materials. In addition, they established a strong law-and-order rules for waste dumping and public littering in which stiff penalties were inflicted to regardless of social status.

The Aztecs built artificial islands called Chinampas over the lake regions to grow food. Reed was used to fencing off a rectangular area which was often anchored to the lakebed with trees. The fenced-off area was then filled with mud and various organic materials until it rose above the water. It was a highly productive (4-7 crops/year) and biodiverse technique (139 species of vertebrates, 21 species of fish, 10 species of reptiles, 79 species of birds, and 23 species of mammals). It also stands out for practicing and preserving ancestral agricultural knowledge that was passed down orally through generations. Four of the five main crops cultivated by the Aztecs (corn, beans, pumpkin, and amaranth) are still grown in Chinampas by farmers in Central Mexico today. Chinampa was recognized by the United Nations as a “globally important agricultural heritage system” in 2018 (FAO, 2018).

For the next case study, I looked the 2020 UN report of food systems in 8 contemporary indigenous peoples residing in different ecosystems and climate zones (FAO, 2021). The goal of this survey was to learn from the resilience of indigenous food production systems and to identify new challenges from processed foods and climate change. One consistent observation across the indigenous peoples is that they have long-standing tradition and knowledge about integrating organic wastes back to the system as agricultural inputs. The main waste products are non-biodegradable plastic packaging, bottles, medicines, batteries, and there is a lack of waste management awareness, plans, and facilities. Thus, the accumulation of non-organic waste is plaguing the Indigenous and non-indigenous people alike in both developed and developing countries.

What can we do? The new development of sustainable material management practices in several Native American tribal communities provide inspiration and positive outlook to the problem. For the final case study, I looked at the fast built-up and expansion of community recycling in the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma (EPA, 2020). Within 10 years, the Nation went from having no recycling infrastructure to a fully integrated and self-sufficient community program that includes two high-capacity recycling facilities, school/community outreach and close cooperation with local businesses.

Throughout this assignment and this course, I am constantly reminded of the core relation between humans and the ecosystem that underpins many traditional and indigenous societies: humans are simply one part of the ecosystem and deserving respect alongside non-human entities; things from nature are gifts to be valued and used fully; we need to treat our environment with reciprocity and respect. This belief is in contrast with our current relation with our ecosystem: we are exploiters, extractors, users, consumers, and dumpers to our environment. We are at the center of the ecosystem with fragmented and non-existent relations with the origins and destination of the products we consume in a fast pace.

Our dominance over nature is not good for us and bodes ill for the future generations and the planet. We need to reintegrate in and establish connections (kilos) to our unique ecosystem: know about ourselves and our community, think about what we really need, how much, how fast, know where things are from and where they are going, make full use of what we have. Our ancestors and the indigenous peoples have shown us our connection with nature holds the answer of our existence and we should heed their advice when we still have time.

References:

USDA. 2022. Food loss and waste. https://www.usda.gov/foodlossandwaste. Accessed: 12/10/2022.

Willett W, et al. 2019. Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. The Lancet 393.10170: 447-492.

Lin L. 2015. 从殷商甲骨文论垃圾文. http://collection.sina.com.cn/zgsh/20150413/1000184790.shtml. Accessed: 10/20/2022.

Medina M. 2014. The Aztecs of Mexico: A Zero Waste Society. https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/the-aztecs-of-mexico-a-zero-waste-society. Accessed 11/23/2022.

FAO and Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. 2021. Indigenous Peoples’ food systems: Insights on sustainability and resilience from the front line of climate change. Rome.

 FAO. 2018. Chinampas Agricultural System in Mexico City. https://www.fao.org/giahs/giahsaroundtheworld/designated-sites/latin-america-and-the-caribbean/chinampa-system-mexico/en/. Accessed: 12/01/2022.

FAO. 2021. The White/Wiphala Paper on Indigenous Peoples’ food systems. Rome. EPA. 2020. Sustainable Materials Management - Food, Built Environment, Recycling. EPA 530-F-20-006. https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPDF.cgi/P10103M6.PDF?Dockey=P10103M6.PDF. Accessed: 11/20/2022.

EPA. 2020. Recycling. Sustainable Materials Management. Tribal Waste Journal. Issue 11. 530-F-20-006

Bresette K, et al. 2019. Dibaginjigaadeg Anishinaabe Ezhitwaad: a tribal climate adaptation menu. Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, Odanah, Wisconsin.